APD calling NE Heights dead body a homicide

Albuquerque police are now calling a dead body they have been investigating in the Northeast Heights since early Saturday morning a homicide.

A neighbor called police before 7:30 a.m. and said his neighbor's house door was open, and said it was not like the neighbor to leave the door open.

When police arrived, they found a dead body in the house. The neighbor also said something else about the night before.

"We were informed last night that a neighbor did hear four bangs, but it is unknown at this time whether it is related to this situation," Sgt. Donovan Olvera of the Albuquerque Police Department said.

Police said they still cannot confirm if the loud sounds the neighbor heard were even gunshots. But the department's Violent Crimes Unit has been investigating the area of 12011 Stilwell near Juan Tabo and Menaul.

"Try to get any information from the public, any information that was received by the officers on the scene, and they try to tie in whether or not it was a homicide," Olvera said.

The neighborhood where the investigation is happening is not a common area for crime, according to the department, making the case even more bizaare.

"Anytime there's a homicide or an assumed homicide by the public, it always causes alert for people to be knowing what's going on, why in our neighborhood," Olvera said.

Stay with KOB Eyewitness News 4 and kob.com for the latest on this developing story.